NOW this may surprise you but yesterday Joe Biden absolutely, definitely, utterly and without a shadow of a doubt won the US Presidential Election of 2020 and will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the USA on January 20.
The election result has never been in doubt except in the fantasies of President Donald Trump, his drooling lawyers and many of his deluded and misled supporters, but yesterday it all became officially Biden’s win when the state of Georgia announced the result of its recount of ballots putting Biden well ahead in the Electoral College once and for all.
The only way that Trump can now win is to subvert the American electoral process and persuade Republican states to send electors to the College who are willing to defy the wishes of the people and vote for the man who lost in their state. It was being reported yesterday that he was asking Republican senators in Michigan to come to the White House to discuss doing just that, but if Trump doesn’t want to condemn the Republican Party to the fate of the Scottish Labour Party and put the GOP in the wilderness, then he should back off.
He has lawsuits going in other states and there is a partial recount in Wisconsin – the “billionaire” Trump couldn’t afford the $7.9 million for a full recount – but it’s all over bar the shouting. Trump will do plenty of that, all the way to the Supreme Court, though even there his own three appointees will baulk at backing his camp’s evidence-less claims of electoral fraud.
The clinching moment came when Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger – a respected Republican vilified by Trump for not playing ball with his anti-democratic coup – certified president-elect Joe Biden’s win in the state, surely ending Trump’s long-shot bid to reverse narrow losses in swing states.
Raffensperger certified that Biden won Georgia by 12,587, following a statewide hand recount that slightly narrowed Biden’s lead from about 14,000.
His office said in a press release: “In certifying the results, the secretary of state affirmed that all 159 counties have provided to the state the total votes tabulated for each state and federal candidate.
“With the certification, the two-business-day time period begins for a candidate who lost by less than 0.5% of the vote to request a recount.
“Certification does not preclude the state from continuing any current investigations related to the General Election or from pursuing any future allegations that may arise from these elections.”
Trump will almost certainly ask for a recount but that will be the third count of votes and Raffensberger is confident there will be little or no difference to the result.
Meanwhile the lawsuits from Trump continue in Michigan and Pennsylvania but even in the extremely unlikely chance of Trump winning them, he still won’t have enough Electoral College votes.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here